Mexico firm selects San Antonio for manufacturing

IDZ, founded in 2004, chose San Antonio over Dallas after participating in a Mexican government-sponsored business incubator in Austin last year. IDZ will employ five people in San Antonio, three in the manufacturing process.

In the United States, IDZ will focus on selling its tools tracking safety system, which uses radio-frequency identification technology, to the aerospace industry.

IDZ already supplies the U.S. Air Force and is interested in expanding to the commercial aviation industry, said Hugo Lizarraga Henderson, international trade specialist for the city department.

The International Affairs Department will conduct a seminar Monday to introduce IDZ to potential customers. Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade will be the seminar's opening speaker.

The company employs 50 workers in Mexico, where it serves clients that include Petróleos Mexicanos, Nissan Motor Co. and Walmart de México.

In 2008, IDZ began its effort to expand into the U.S. market by participating in TechBA, a business incubator chain operated by the Mexican Ministry of the Economy. One of TechBA's U.S. offices is run in collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin's IC2 Institute.

In June, the company was considering Texas sites, including Dallas, to establish a manufacturing base.

San Antonio was selected because of the number of aerospace companies and the level of business development support it received from the International Affairs Department and the Greater San Antonio and San Antonio Hispanic chambers of commerce.

Because of San Antonio's help, the company has raised its annual U.S. sales projections to $4 million from $400,000, Lizarraga Henderson said.